Molly Eddison is a PhD student at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience  at King’s College London. She is funded by the Medical Research Council through the Doctoral Training Partnership.

Prior to starting her PhD, Molly worked in the Perinatal Imaging Department and the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at King's, where she co-ordinated the Brain Imaging in Babies study, a large longitudinal brain imaging project examining fetal, neonatal, and infant development.

This role reflected her wider interest in neurodevelopment and neurodiversity, and in how early brain changes shape later outcomes.Her doctoral research now focuses on understanding variability in responses to emerging psychedelic treatments for mental health.

She is particularly interested in the neurobiological and psychological modulators of responses to psilocybin and nitrous oxide, with a focus on female-specific biological influences and placebo effects.

More broadly, Molly is interested in psychopharmacology, the interaction between mind and body, and how individual differences shape therapeutic response.

Her work explores how altered states of perception and consciousness can deepen our understanding of mental health and illness, and how these mechanisms may be harnessed to improve interventions. Molly is supervised by Professor Mitul Mehta, Dr Devin Terhune, and Dr James Rucker.

Research Interests

• Psychoneuroimmunology
• Neuroendocrinology
• Mental health
• Psychedelics
• Neurodiversity
• Neuroimaging

Expertise and public engagement

In previous roles, Molly secured a public patient involvement grant and ran several workshops to develop virtual reality for young children aged 2-5 years old having an MRI.